We have hit “peak car” – Big Think

Tom Standage17 August, 2021

• Car production may never exceed its level in 2017.

• Car usage has been falling in Western countries, particularly in cities.

• Ride-hailing and public transit likely are the future of transportation.

The following is an excerpt from the book A Brief History of Motion.
In the 2020s there are clear signs that enthusiasm for cars is finally waning. Even some people within the industry now acknowledge that the world is now at, or has passed, “peak car” — the point at which car ownership and use level off and start to decline. Car production may never exceed its level in 2017. “It could well be that we passed the peak in global automotive production,” said Volkmar Denner, chief executive of Robert Bosch, the world’s largest maker of car parts, in January 2020. And that was before the coronavirus pandemic whacked car sales.